Toyota Australia
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, or Toyota Australia, is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, which is based in Japan. TMCA markets Toyota products and manages motorsport, advertising and business operations for Toyota Motor Corporation in Australia. TMCA is also responsible for Lexus vehicles in Australia. The current head of TMCA is Max Yasuda and David Buttner is TMCA's senior executive director of sales and marketing. John Conomos is Chairman Emeritus and is the Principal Policy Advisor on TMCA. Toyota's tagline is 'Oh What a Feeling!', which has been used in media since the mid-1980s. It is almost always accompanied by a person jumping and freezing in mid-air. History TMCA first began in 1958 where Toyota Land Cruisers were imported by Thiess Toyota for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme. By 1963, assembly of Toyota vehicles in Australia by Australian Motor Industries (AMI) had begun, taking place at the production plant in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The production line of Toyota vehicles in 1963 was devoted to the Toyota Tiara. One of the leading forces of getting Toyota established in Australia was Kennath Hougham. In 1972 Toyota bought out British Leyland's interest in AMI and announced plans to spend AUS $27 Million on an engine and gearbox plant. A production plant in Altona, Victoria was established and began the production of engines in 1978, following the progressive growth of AMI. The first AMI exported car was a Toyota Corona wagon in 1986 headed for New Zealand. The one-millionth locally built Toyota was produced in 1992. In 1994, all vehicle manufacturing operations were moved from Port Melbourne to Altona. The last vehicle produced at the Port Melbourne plant was a Toyota Camry and the first vehicle produced at the Altona plant a Toyota Corolla. Port Melbourne continued performing minor operations for TMCA. The two-millionth locally built Toyota was produced in 2004. In 2005, the ten-millionth worldwide Toyota Camry was built at TMCA's Altona plant. The complete closure and end of all Toyota production operations at the Port Melbourne plant took place in May 2006. All manufacturing was shifted to Altona. The milestone of the 500,000th TMCA vehicle export also occurred in May 2006. The vehicle was a Toyota Camry, headed for New Zealand. Throughout TMCA's history, many Toyota vehicles have been built at either Altona or Port Melbourne, including the Toyota Tiara, the Toyota Corona, the Toyota Crown, the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota Camry and the Toyota Avalon. The Toyota Land Cruiser was never built in Australia. As of 2006, TMCA's Altona plant in Victoria produces the Toyota Camry. Production of the Toyota Avalon has ceased, due for replacement on the manufacturing line by the Toyota Aurion, which shares many components with the Toyota Camry. TMCA has expressed interests in locally building the Toyota Kluger 4WD at Altona in the future. TMCA has started to build the new Hybrid Camry in 2010 after securing a $35 million subsidy from the Federal Government. " The first locally-made Australian Toyota Hybrid Camry was completed and revealed to public on 11 December 2009, driven by former prime minister Kevin Rudd. TMCA Sales Figures Toyota Motor Corporation Australia currently holds the largest market share of Australia's new car market. They have been in the position of Australia's top seller of new cars since the sales period of 2003-2004, where that position was taken over from Holden. Total New Car Sales by TMCA *2003-2004: 186,370 *2004-2005: 201,737 *2005-2006: 202,817 *2006-2007: 213,847 (current Australian car industry record for highest annual new car sales) In the sales period 2006-2007, Toyota Australia became the first automotive company from 1978 to have been the leader in total sales, passenger vehicles sales and commercial vehicles sales. Current lineup TMCA currently offers a large range of motor vehicles in Australia for private and fleet buyers. , imported from Japan]] Passenger models *Toyota Aurion (mid-size car) *Toyota Avensis (minivan) *Toyota Camry (mid-size car) *Toyota Corolla (compact car) *Toyota Prius (compact car) *Toyota Rukus (compact car) *Toyota Tarago (minivan) *Toyota Yaris (subcompact car) SUV models *Toyota FJ Cruiser (mid-size SUV) *Toyota Kluger (mid-size SUV) *Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (full-size SUV) *Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (mid-size SUV) *Toyota RAV4 (compact SUV) Commercial models *Toyota Coaster *Toyota Hiace *Toyota Hilux *Toyota Land Cruiser 78 Motorsport TMCA currently supports motorsport in the form of the Australian rally, with a Toyota Racing Development livery Toyota Corolla. Toyota Racing Development, or TRD, also forms TMCA's tuning division to create performance versions of common Toyota vehicles. The tuning division was launched in 2007 and is managed by Prodrive. It is designed to compete with rival makers Ford and Holden, with their tuning divisions of FPV and HSV respectively. The first vehicle released by TRD was the TRD Aurion, a supercharged version of the Toyota Aurion large car. The TRD Hilux, a supercharged version of the Toyota Hilux ute, is due for release in the second quarter of 2008. As of December 2008, however, Toyota has decided to cease TRD manufacturing due to an "operational change". All production of both the TRD Aurion and Hilux is scheduled to cease by 31 March 2009, and stock will be cleared by mid 2009. Supporting facilities Toyota Technical Centre Australia (TTC-AU). Formed in June 2003 in Notting Hill, Victoria to do Body Engineering; Chassis, Mechanical Engineering & Evaluation; Customer Quality Engineering; Electronics Engineering; and Support. Sponsorship TMCA is currently the premiere sponsor of the Australian Football League Premiership. The original sponsorship deal was signed for the 2004-2006 seasons. Furthermore, a contract was signed on 16 July 2006 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne to extend this contract by two years. See also *Australian Motor Industries, an assembly firm bought out by Toyota Australia for its Port Melbourne assembly facility References External links *Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Website Australia Category:Companies of Australia Category:Truck manufacturers of Australia Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of Australia